NARD rejects Pastor Poju Oyemade’s claim, says no doctor trained on N500,000

Abdullateef Fowewe

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors has strongly refuted recent remarks by Pastor Poju Oyemade regarding the cost of training doctors in Nigeria.

Oyemade stated that medical students in Nigeria typically spend about N500,000 on their education.

The cleric said, “In Nigeria, a person will graduate as a medical doctor and spend N500,000 throughout to become a doctor.

“In America, you graduate from Johns Hopkins, you graduate from Harvard as a doctor, and you spend $2,000. Are you okay? Do you know how much money you spend?

“Nigerians are ungrateful. They will go through everything, education. How much do they spend there? You see a Nigerian, if they tell him in Nigeria to do two jobs, he will curse your life out.

“They will come to America, wake up in the morning, do first job, do second job, do Uber, and do, everything he’s doing. I said, if they put the fraction of this energy they put here in their country, they will have blown.”

However, NARD dismissed this claim as misleading and inaccurate, pointing to a peer-reviewed study which places the actual cost of training a Nigerian doctor between $21,000 and $51,000.

The association underscored that the figure cited by Oyemade fails to reflect the true financial burden borne by medical students and their families, and urged public figures to be more cautious when discussing critical issues such as healthcare and education.

NARD also highlights the significant disparity in earnings between Nigerian doctors and their counterparts in the US, with Nigerian doctors earning approximately N250,000 ($170) monthly compared to $16,000 (N24 million) monthly in the US.

The association further notes that many Nigerian families spend over $10,000 to support doctors in qualifying and practicing in the US.

NARD in a statement on its social media handle rejects Oyemade’s suggestion that Nigerian professionals lack gratitude, stating that Nigerian doctors are hardworking and resilient despite the healthcare system’s challenges.

NARD further urged Oyemade to use his influence to advocate for health sector reforms, rather than blaming professionals, given Nigeria’s poor global ranking in healthcare.

The statement reads, “With due respect, your recent comments reflect a misunderstanding of the realities surrounding medical education and the healthcare system in Nigeria.

“Contrary to your claim, no medical doctor is trained on N500,000. A peer-reviewed study by Osoba et al. (2021), published in the Pan African Medical Journal, estimates the cost of training a doctor in Nigeria to range between $21,000 and $51,000—this includes tuition, living expenses, and other associated costs.

“Despite this investment, the average Nigerian doctor earns about N250,000 monthly (roughly $170), a stark contrast to their counterparts in the U.S., where training costs around $275,000, and the average monthly salary is about $16,000 (₦24 million).

“This is not about ingratitude—Nigerian doctors are among the most hardworking and resilient globally.

“While the health system is in a state of crisis, many citizens cannot afford medical tourism. It is easy for Pastors with access to tithes and offerings to seek care abroad, but their average Nigerian church member cannot.

“We urge you to speak truth to power and advocate for a better health system; Nigeria currently ranks 142nd out of 195 globally.

“It may be worth considering the Apostles’ model—focusing on prayer, fasting, and the Word—rather than ‘serving tables’.”